tenacious_b Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 OK, I have got to be the clumsiest damn person in the world, but I am always hitting my pride and joy 2893 029 Pam on door facings. Well, this last time was a doozie. I hit it so hard that it flattened out one of the corners on the lug horn, and in the process bent (for lack of a better word) and partially occluded the log hole for the screw bar. I can get to the screw head with one of my little screwdrivers, but I cannot get it to come out because of the occlusion of the hole. Now keeing in mind that I have all of the patience and fine motor skills of a silver back gorilla, what is the best fix here? I was thinking buy a new screw bar, and cut this one off (replacing strap anyway), and remove both pieces from the inside out, then use a fine drill bit to bore the hole back out to proper size..... Does anyone have any advice or any other way that this problem might be solved??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linder Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Holy crap! Is your hand okay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAMman Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 If the screw hole is misshapen to the extent that the screw cannot be withdrawn be very careful, as trying to unscrew it in this situation is likely to strip the threads in the other lug, due to the inability of the screw to move as it’s being unscrewed. Your idea of cutting the screw in half and taking both bits out from the inside seems to be a logical solution. Best of luck, and maybe you should keep your hands in your pockets more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenacious_b Posted October 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 yeah, my hand is fine....my wrist-borne flying saucer, as my wife calls it, took the full impace of the metal office door facing. Actually, this is kind of a weird piece, in that the screw in this lug set screws down far enough to where it sticks out the other lug a bit and puts it out of harms way for the drill bit. I am going to put my kid gloves on and massage it with a ver small drill bit tonight and see if I can't widen that hole....or I might get an extra pair of hands to help me take a ball-tipped awl and try to tap it wider using the awl and a hammer. What a pisser....I thought 316L stainless steel was tougher than this..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddhead Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 yeah, my hand is fine....my wrist-borne flying saucer, as my wife calls it, took the full impace of the metal office door facing. Actually, this is kind of a weird piece, in that the screw in this lug set screws down far enough to where it sticks out the other lug a bit and puts it out of harms way for the drill bit. I am going to put my kid gloves on and massage it with a ver small drill bit tonight and see if I can't widen that hole....or I might get an extra pair of hands to help me take a ball-tipped awl and try to tap it wider using the awl and a hammer. What a pisser....I thought 316L stainless steel was tougher than this..... i have the same watch and feel simarlarly about it so i feel your pain.. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkdc Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 You can drill out the hole and use a springbar instead. Sounds like a crappy solution, but there are 26mm screw spring bars available to fit Panerais Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highflyingclive Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Get a new case-set from DavidSen? This could be your excuse to go Destro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I hit it so hard that it flattened out one of the corners on the lug horn, and in the process bent (for lack of a better word) and partially occluded the log hole for the screw bar. Holy mackeral. Got any pics? I'm not sure I can offer up any further advice other than what's given, but I'd love to see the damage, and I'd also like to know what you were doing when said damage occured! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenacious_b Posted October 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 OK, surgery is now over and the patient is recovering. One of the "screw bars" not sure what the proper term is....was destroyed in the process.....I tried to drill it out enough to get at the screw, but after damaging the lug horn pretty well, I realized i'd likely end up completely destroying it, so I cut the strap off with shears, and cut through the bar with a pair of metal shears. I had to apply an incredible amount of pressure to actually cut through it. On the first cut, it produced so much outward pressure on the bar, that it pushed it about 8mm out of the hole, past the still occluded drilled out hole, but it was so snug, I had to use robogrip pliers to pull it the rest of the way out, and that weren't no easy task. After that, unscrewing the undamaged end from the undamaged threaded lug horn was easy. The whole reason I was doing this was to try my buddy's panny bracelet on before buying one, so now, I just need to get a new screw bar thingy and a bracelet, and I'll have my baby back. She'll have one of her lug holes widened (I cleaned up the hole with a drill bit), but other than that, she'll be fine. I guess there's no chance that I'll ever be able to sell her now, but I probably wouldn't have anyway as she's a 2893 and my first rep. You know, I try to avoid getting emotional about my toys, but when I began to drill out that lug hole and I saw the metal shavings start to fall out on the cloth, I thought I was going to throw up. So now I am going to offer some spare Men's Rolex Oyster links for trade for a screw bar, and I am going to post one of my less expensive Gen dive watches for sale later tonight to pay for a nice aftermarket panny bracelet from one our members who sells them on the side. If anyone has a spare screw bar thingy, let me know and we'll work something out. Thanks for all your concern; things were touch and go there for a bit, but I think we're through the worst of it and now just have to focus on picking up the pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenacious_b Posted October 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 whew! she looks bad close up... I am trying to raise money for a new bracelet so she can feel beautiful...please see link below: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?act=ST...=12853&st=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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